


The Fourth

by BWaves



Series: Joy and Owen [8]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Bar, Fourth of July, Holidays, Love Confessions, M/M, Rain, Rejection of confession, Unrequited Love, amputee character, mild drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-09-16 01:51:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16944726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BWaves/pseuds/BWaves
Summary: Joy gets caught up in the moment, and realizes that he’s in too deep.





	The Fourth

The weather was sticky and gross, but Joy persevered. He looked up at the muggy sky and he hummed softly at the nice gradient the clouds gave. At least there’s that. Joy takes a picture, and he sighs, slumping in his folding chair. “How much longer?” he asks, as the sound of an announcer drones off in the distance.

“Probably another forty five minutes, or an hour. We gotta wait until the sun sets,” Owen tells him. He tips his head back, can of some cheap beer Joy has never heard of getting crushed in his hand as it empties. He tosses the emptied can into the cooler.

Joy looks over at him. “Why did you wanna do Fourth of July here, anyways? I’ve never even heard of this place.” Joy asks, digging in the cooler for a soda. 

“That’s the best places to go.” Owen shrugs, sighing softly and crossing his arms. “I came here last year. I don’t usually do Fourth of July, but here…” he trails off as a breeze blows through, and Joy watches him as he enjoys it, “It’s not hot, like Texas. I’m wearing a sweater and I’m comfortable. The fair is fun, we got, like, funnel cake and fried pickles and onion rings, I mean, what’s not to like about this place?”

Joy doesn’t answer right away, because for a moment he’s just wrapped up in how… well, how happy Owen looks. Owen stares at the clouds for a long moment before he finally looks to Joy after too long without an answer. 

He smiles and he reaches over to cup the back of Joy’s head, pulling him in for a kiss. “I love it when you look like that,” he laughs, and Joy smiles at him.

“I love you,” he says softly, without really thinking, and he goes for another kiss but tips forward and has to catch himself, because suddenly Owen isn’t there. He’s leaned back in his chair and he’s watching him.

It dawns on him what he’s said and he leans back himself, eyes dropping to his lap. His first instinct is to apologize, he opens his mouth to do it, before he shakes his head and his mouth snaps shut. He shouldn’t apologize, it’s too late, out in the open now, and sorry won’t take it back. And it would be a hell of a lot worse if he said he didn’t mean it. But Owen isn’t saying anything. He doesn’t say anything, he doesn’t move for a while, and after the silence drags on for too long Joy looks up.

Owen reaches into the cooler, he grabs another beer, and Joy watches as he wordlessly open it, and starts drinking. It’s unusual to see Owen drink, he’s usually so adamant about not having anything to do with alcohol, he’d said beer was something he didn’t mind as much, and even partook in, on special occasions. But he’d already said ‘this will be my last’ on the previous.

The silence persists for a few minutes, before Joy can’t take it anymore. “Owen, I-“

“Just… gimme a minute,” he says softly, staring at the can in his hands. “I just need a minute.” He stands up. Joy watches him as he drags a hand down his face, drops his can, and walks away. He doesn’t go far. He only goes about twenty feet away before he stops, leans against a tree, and covers his face.

Joy watches him for a long moment before he finally looks down at his lap, because staring at Owen probably isn’t the best idea. He just needs time, he realizes. He just hopes he hasn’t fucked this up. 

The clouds continue to roll in, and Joy looks up to the sky in time to see lightning make the clouds glow. He watches the clouds light up before the thunder rolls through him. He flinches when a cold drop of water hits his face, followed by another and another. He looks over to Owen, who still seems to be wrapped in his thoughts, and Joy pushes to stand, but he isn’t sure if he can talk to him yet.

But, space needing be damned, he’s not gonna let the guy catch a cold or anything. He grabs their chairs and he hurries over to Owen, touching his arm and jerking back when he flinches. “It’s about to start coming down hard, we should go inside so we don’t get sick or anything.” Owen nods at him, but he doesn’t make to move, and Joy grabs his arm, tugging gently, “Come on, we need to go inside, I don’t like it when my legs get wet.” He frowns, tugging again and again until finally Owen caves, taking one of the chairs from Joy and helping him get their stuff into the nearby bar.

They take up two seats at the bar. Joy stares at the counter as Owen orders sodas for both of them.

They sit in silence for way too long. The din of the conversations around them almost drowns out the sound of rain pouring down outside, though Joy can still see it through the windows. He drums his fingers on the bartop. He looks up to Owen, then back down to his hands. “Sorry,” he says softly because he has to say something, and Owen finally looks at him again.

“Don’t be sorry.” Owen sighs, pressing a hand to his face and sighing loudly, “You shouldn’t be sorry about that, don’t apologize for how you feel, I just… I can’t… Do that. Right now.” Owen thanks the bartender when she drops off their drinks, and he gives her his card to pay. He wraps his hands around the glass and holds it, though he doesn’t drink yet. “I’m kind of… I’m not…” He sighs again, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I get it.” Joy smiles at him, and Owen turns to look again, shoulders slumping a bit, “I shouldn’t have said it. I know this isn’t… Permanent. I’m sorry I let that slip out.” Owen gives a slow nod, and turns his eyes back down to his drink. Joy grabs his own and starts to sip at the straw.

The rain slowly dies down, and once Joy is sure it’s safe, he pokes at Owen’s shoulder. They take the chairs back outside. They settle back into their previous place, and Joy messes with the settings on his camera as they ready up all the fireworks in the baseball field they can see through the trees.

The first firework whistles into the sky, and Joy looks up to see it explode, before turning to Owen, and feeling his heart skip a beat. His attention is thoroughly on Owen then, the fireworks become mere white noise as he stares at him. Eventually he lifts his camera up to take a picture of Owen’s face. He’s calm, he’s got this look on his face like he’s watching the most beautiful thing ever, and Joy tries to capture that, with Owen’s face lit up in reds, blues, and greens. 

His chest hurts. He misses all of the fireworks, and has to quickly look away, lowering his camera when Owen snaps back into reality and looks at him. He’s got this big smile on his face and Joy watches him as he starts talking about the fireworks shows from Texas. 

They pack up their chairs and Owen carries the cooler. They walk back to their motel, and turn the television on, lay in bed, and rest together until Owen decides to start kissing below the neck.

Joy has to bite his lip. He wants to say it again, he wants to press it, he wants Owen to know that he really feels that way, he really means it. It isn’t a trick or a knee-jerk reaction, it’s really how he feels, but he knows better. Owen doesn’t want to hear it, so Joy keeps it to himself, and just chants it in his head as Owen moves against him and inside him.

Maybe with some more time, Owen will get it.

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this and you'd like to see more, go check out joyandowen.tumblr.com where I am taking asks and requests involving these two boys.
> 
> The blog gets updates earlier than this does!


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